The jury in Lauren Anne Dickason’s High Court murder trial will this afternoon be sent to begin deliberating its verdict.
The group of 12 will be tasked with deciding whether she is guilty of murder or infanticide or not criminally responsible for the offending by reason of insanity.
Dickason, 42, does not deny killing Liane, 6, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla in September 2021.
But she has pleaded not guilty to murder, claiming she was severley mentally disturbed at the time and did not know what she was doing was morally wrong - and that she should not be held criminally responsible.
This morning Justice Cameron Mander is summing up the trial in its entirety and will run the jury through both the Crown and defence evidence.
He warned them that his summation would be lengthy and would go until at least 1pm if not longer.
Dickason killed 6-year-old Liané, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla at their Timaru home on September 16.
Mander said he appreciated much of what he had to cover would be repetitive; however, he was “obliged to ensure” they understood the case against Dickason and her defence.
Mander reminded the jury it was up to them, and them alone, as to what evidence they accepted and rejected.
“At the end of the day your assessment of the evidence is for you,” he said.
“It is up to you as to how you assess it... it’s for you to judge.
“You must reach your decision without feelings of prejudice or sympathy… it is inevitable such feelings are engendered in a case involving three little children.
Justice Mander said the jury must ignore any media reports or comments made to them by anyone outside their number about the case.
He said they must return verdicts based on their assessment of the evidence alone and Justice Mander urged them to “be on your guard” and not allow any irrelevant information or outside influence to colour their thinking.
“Mrs Dickason is innocent until proven guilty,” he said.
“It is for the Crown to prove the charge of murder and to negate the defence of infanticide… there is no onus on the defendant to prove or disprove insanity… or infanticide
“You must be brought to the point that you can say ‘I am sure the defendant is guilty’... has the Crown proved beyond a responsible doubt that… the children’s deaths were not an act of infanticide.”
Justice Mander said there was no doubt Dickason killed the little girls and that she was very mentally unwell.
The jury must decide whether she was so disturbed that she cannot be held criminally culpable.
The jury’s verdict options were murder, the alternative charge or “partial defence” of infanticide or the full defence of insanity and Justice Mander spent much time talking them through each.
For murder the jury had be sure the Crown had proved three elements:
- That the killing is a homicide - which is not in doubt
- That the killing is culpable
- That there was murderous intent
“If the deaths of the three children were acts of culpable homicide, they were acts of murder… the Crown is not required to prove a motive to prove the offence of murder, only that the defendant had a murderous intent,” said Justice Mander.
Last addresses
On Friday the Crown and defence gave their last addresses to the jury.
Prosecutor Andrew McRae said after considering all of the evidence, the 12 could be sure Dickason was guilty of murder and had no defence of insanity or infanticide available to her.
Defence lawyer Kerryn Beaton KC said Dickason’s case was “the very kind the law of infanticide was designed for”.
The trial has today entered its fifth week.
Since July 17 the jury of eight women and four men have heard extensive evidence about the alleged triple murder.
They have heard about Dickason’s life before and after she and her family emigrated to New Zealand from South Africa a month the girls were killed.
Dickason’s lengthy battle with a major depressive disorder, her gruelling fertility journey including at least 17 rounds of IVF and the loss of a baby early in a pregnancy, and her struggles with motherhood were canvassed.
The court was also shown video of Dickason and her husband Graham being interviewed by police after the little girls were killed.
Graham Dickason then gave evidence via audio-visual link from his home in Pretoria after he chose not to return to New Zealand to attend the trial.
Lauren Anne Dickason allegedly killed 6-year-old Liané, and 2-year-old twins Maya and Karla at their Timaru home on September 16.
The King v Lauren Anne Dickason - the Crown and defence cases
The Crown alleges Dickason murdered the children in a “calculated” way because she was frustrated, angry and resentful of them.
It acknowledges Dickason suffered from sometimes-serious depression, but maintains she knew what she was doing when she killed the girls.
Opening the Crown case on July 1, McRae alleged Dickason was an angry and frustrated woman who was “resentful of how the children stood in the way of her relationship with her husband” and killed them “methodically and purposefully, perhaps even clinically”.
The defence says Dickason was a severely mentally disturbed woman in the depths of postpartum depression and did not know the act of killing the children was morally wrong at the time of their deaths.
Further, it says she was “in such a dark place” she had decided to kill herself and felt “it was the right thing to do” to “take the girls with her”.
SUICIDE AND DEPRESSION
Where to get help:
• Lifeline: Call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) (available 24/7)
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: Call 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)
• Youth services: (06) 3555 906
• Youthline: Call 0800 376 633 or text 234
• What's Up: Call 0800 942 8787 (11am to 11pm) or webchat (11am to 10.30pm)
• Depression helpline: Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7)
• Helpline: Need to talk? Call or text 1737
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111
